Category: Visual Art

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Cultural (Re)connection

[W]hat does it mean to have a seat at the table, when the table itself is on unceded land?

Creators:
Julianna Yue 余美鳳 (she/hers)

Identity, when achieved, gives us a sense of self; a sense of wholeness. Sometimes we are given an identity; but sometimes we have to find it, and other times still we need to reconnect with it. The process of finding/reconnecting with that identity can be a messy, clumsy, brave, and beautiful process all in one because along the way, we learn things, meet people, and emerge with a sense of ourselves that we never could have imagined before. Across two pieces, Julianna opens up about her continuing journey of reconnecting with her Métis-Cree heritage, discovering things about her Chinese heritage, and figuring out what it means to be Chinese-Indigenous in the context of so-called Canada – whether it’s through beautiful Métis beadwork, or an honest self-reflection. What activities would you do to try to learn more about your cultural identity/identities?

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Flavours of Home

“Good luck with that!”

Creators:
Megan Kadzirange (she/hers)

One of the biggest tasks that anyone has when leaving home is to find food that reminds one of home – sometimes it’s not an easy task (see the number of Hong Kong-style cafés or Indian restaurants around Vancouver); but sometimes it’s a monumental task. Megan, whose heritage home is in Zimbabwe, created this food journal to document her arduous journey of thinking about what food from home means, and, most importantly, figuring out where to even find the ingredients needed to make all the hometown delicacies so she can feel that warmth and comfort again. From tapping into others in the diasporic Zimbabwean community to using her own resourcefulness, she ultimately succeeds in her plans and cooks up some amazing offerings. What you are craving for something from home, how do you go about getting it?

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My Culture Book

I should be proud of being a little different

Creators:
Aiko Webb ウェブ愛子 (she/hers)

As racialized diasporic children grow up, the one struggle that they will undoubtedly have is thinking about their identity. They may think that they do, and ought to be able to, identify as someone from the mainstream culture; but that choice may be rejected for them. To compound this, they also need to figure out where they stand in terms of heritage identity – especially for people who have multiple heritage identities. Aiko’s book is an amazingly creative way of getting young children to start thinking about their cultural identities at an early age. Through various stories, activities, and prompts, Aiko gets children to think about how to navigate difficult questions around identity, and how to be comfortable with the inevitable uncertainty of discovering one’s identity. What else would you like to see included in a book like this, and how might it be different if the book were for an adult?

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But it’s too bitter! 可是太苦了!

[I]t gives them a sense of security and comfort…

Creators:
Jessica Liu 刘润芃 (she/hers)

People who grow up as Asian diasporic children likely have one unifying experience – having their parents push traditional medicine onto them (whether Japanese, Mongolian, Chinese, Indian, Persian, or others), and then having the children subsequently get annoyed, deciding to disavow traditional medicine. Regardless of one’s stance on these traditional forms of medicine, and regardless of the their validity, they all rest on consistent sets of principles. In this booklet, Jessica describes some of the principles underlying traditional Chinese medicine, and shares her personal connections to this ancient form of healthcare by tracing its practice through her family history. Traditional medicines play a huge role in the lives of diasporic folks – what kind of role has it potentially played in yours?

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Depression & Suicide

“[K]eep it in the family”

Creators:
Reeva Bhandal ਰੀਵਾ (she/hers)
Tracy Ngo 吴雯娜 (she/hers)

It is not a secret that Asian diaspora face particular challenges when it comes to mental health, particularly dealing with depression and suicide – both from within their cultures, and outside their cultures. From outside their cultures, they have to deal with a lot of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Within their cultures, there is also a lot of conservatism and misunderstanding about mental health that prevents effective usage of mental health support. These complex problems require multi-faceted solutions – solutions that can greatly benefit from enough State-level financial support. In this letter to their Member of Parliament, Reeva and Tracy lay out the problems in detail, followed by impressively in-depth and well-researched solutions that they request from the government. Are there any other solutions not on the list that you’d like to see – whether from the government or from Asian diasporic communities?

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There’s Food at Home

You have to choose. Do you want to be one of them. Or one of us.

Creator:
Haniya Syed (she/her)

So many things stay with us in our memories – the flavour of meals, the aroma of food, the sights and sounds of meal time, and the emotions of being around families and friends. In this cookbook, Haniya shares with you some of her most treasured family recipes that map onto her parents’ migration history, and her experience growing up in a multiracial family set within a society filled with racialization. To complement the amazing recipes, Haniya sprinkles this cookbook with offerings of scrumptious poetry, dashes of mouth-watering food photographs, and heaping portions of heart-warming family pictures. As you read through this cookbook full of amazing recipes set to immense nostalgia and reminiscence, what foods draw out some of your fondest childhood memories – and why?

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A Tale of Two Vases

Creator:
Amalee Truong (she/her)

A common experience among minoritized artists is the internal struggle associated with creating art that is traditional to their culture. For example, a Chinese Canadian artist might want to showcase Chinese styles in their art because that is what best represents them; however, the question of whether one is “enough” of that minoritized culture to even use that style often comes up. It makes them question whether they have the credibility to use such cultural styles, and whether they would be seen as merely appropriating a style that they don’t have enough credibility to use. And does using that style create the perception that their usage signals representation? This all creates additional pressures on the artist to do a really good job, lest their potential failure reflects poorly on their entire community. With all of these pressures, though, it is still imperative that minoritized artists push forward and create a style that is their own. Dive into Amalee’s thought process as she discusses similar struggles while creating two ceramic vases to represent her and her brother. If you were in a similar position, how would you reconcile the need for representation with the worries about being too much of an imposter to engage in representation?

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Planting a Seed

Ruolee holds the seed, like how Ah-ma held her hands. “I know it will grow now. It certainly will.”

Creator:
Maya Wu 吳妤蕎 (she/her)

Leaving a home to set up a new home elsewhere is as much a source of excitement as it is a source of sorrow. We often end up in a double-bind of experiencing sadness for leaving behind people we love and cherish, and also struggling with the loneliness of social isolation and cultural adjustment in a new environment. This is especially difficult for children who, while culturally and linguistically adjusting, also end up shouldering the domestic load of being the liaison between their families and the outside world. And sometimes, all it takes is that one serendipitous encounter with that one individual who helps change perspectives, provides assurances, and gives confidence to the immigrant child to know how to find a niche for themselves in this new cultural environment. If you had been in a similar situation, who was that one person for you – or perhaps it was a group of people? And what changes occurred as a result of that encounter? Read through Maya’s beautifully illustrated story of just such an encounter and I dare you to not feel like smiling at the end.

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量太麻烦了 – It’s too much trouble to measure ingredients

The same dish, a slightly different taste every time, but always with the same love, care, and intent on healing

Creator:
Sorella Zhang 张筱媚 (she/her)

Medicine isn’t just about curing diseases and ailments – it can also be able preventing diseases and ailments, and maintaining good health. This kind of perspective about health is characteristic of a various traditional systems of medicine, whether it’s traditional Mongolia, Iranian, Indigenous, or Chinese medicine, amongst others. By seeing medicine as preventative rather than reactive, this allows edible items with medicinal properties to be incorporated into food that can nourish and heal people on a continuous basis. Sorella presents a cookbook filled with recipes involving ingredients that are known to have various medicinal properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine; but it also is filled with a lot of love. The central them is certainly food; but one can see/feel/sense the love and intimate connections that emanate from these recipes. How can we all incorporate traditional medicinal ingredients into our food in a responsible manner?

Click on the following to reveal (first) the cookbook, and (second) the creator’s notes (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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Thresholding

“So, what did nice conservative gay white men do? They sell a community that liberated them down the river” – Sylvia Rivera

Artist:
Tiffany Ou 欧倩怡 (she/her)

Queerness. Queerness is an identity, and it’s also a way of existing. Queerness, though, isn’t just about being queer. What many boil down to a single point of discourse is actually a complex interplay of multiple identities and intersectionalities at the same time. Tiffany’s illustration/animation shows the viewer a simple yet effective visual representation of how cultural and historical discourse often oversimplifies the richness of queerness into a single issue. In the context of a society with lots of societal defaults, the erasure of the richness of queerness and the diversity among queer folks fighting for liberation often converges into the image of a struggle for White cisgender gay men’s recognition. What implications does this have for racialized queer folks fighting (/who fought) for liberation, and what more needs to be done?

Click on the following to reveal the artist’s statement (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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